I went to a distant family reunion last summer, basically, the descendants of my great-great grandmother (on the matrilineal line). She had like eight kids, so it was a pretty big reunion. It was pretty boring, actually, and I could see why my great-grandmother only stayed in touch with one of her sisters and one of her brothers, and why my grandmother also declined to stay in contact with anyone but those particular cousins.

But after so many generations, it hardly counts as being related anymore. If I get half of my genes from my mother, and she got half from her mother, and so on and so forth, we're talking like what, maybe 6% of my genes from the common ancestor of the group?

Yes! Everyone is invited. First, it's open to the public. But confirmed family members will get a bracelet. Please check out ajjacobs.com/global-family-reunion to find out how we're related. One of the best ways: Join Geni.com and get on the World Family Tree. Thanks -- AJ

including former New York mayor Michael R. Bloomberg who is A.J.'s wife’s great-uncle’s wife’s first cousin once removed’s husband’s uncle’s wife’s son’s wife’s first cousin once removed’s husband’s brother’s wife’s nephew

By the way, AJ, since you seem to be responding here....to do this right, you'll want to accept sharing invitations from your probable cousins. (hint, hint) What's the point of doing DNA testing and making a big deal about being related to so many people if you're not going to follow up on the results? Your inbox probably has quite a few requests, since you've been so public on the subject.

I predict 3rd-distant, since that's what pretty much all AJs are to each other (hah....you've got the right initials!).